1854.] FERGUSSON OF CRAIGDARROCH. 107 strong letters of recommendation from the leading Whig barristers and attorneys, with whom I had become a hero. I sent the letters on by a packet before the one in which I sailed, and the consequence was that when I arrived in the Hooghly, before I set my foot on shore, I had retainers which insured me full employment for two years. I landed and began practice. I lived freely, made largely, and spent rapidly; but I was too much occupied to be involved in any serious extravagance. Before a year was over my personal debt was paid off, and in two years more I was in the receipt of £20,000 a-year. I made a fortune, redeemed my estate in Scotland, and here I am." Mr Fergusson became member of Parliament for the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in which part of his estates were situated, and when the Whigs came into office in 1830, he was made Judge-Advocate. Unfortunately he had not the same faculty of keeping money which he had in making it besides redeeming his paternal estate, and fitting up its mansion-house, he had a house in Portman Square, another at Boulogne, a third at Paris, and a fourth on the banks of the Lake of Geneva; he lost largely by the purchase of South American bonds, then a very favourite investment with Liberal capitalists; two years before his death he sank £40,000 in the purchase of an annuity; and he incurred very heavy losses at the gaming-table. Still he left an unencumbered landed estate to his son, besides a handsome jointure to his widow, who was a Frenchwoman, and resided in Paris. My daughter was married in September 1854, and her husband and she immediately set off for and took possession of Craigdarroch, his beautiful and romantic place in Dumfriesshire. My new son-in-law was one of the most charming and amiable persons whom it was possible to conceive. He was still very young, his talents were remarkable, his disposition amiable, and his tastes refined, and it was impossible to figure a more delightful companion. You could not converse with him without admiring his ability; you could not live with him. without loving. Kindly and affectionate in his disposition, he was in the highest degree generous and open-hearted in his conduct; if he was sui profusus he was not alieni appetens. His mind was ardently set on acquiring knowledge, and supplying by assiduous industry the deficiencies of a somewhat neglected education; his love of poetry was enthusiastic; his ear for music exquisite. So great was his proficiency in the latter art, that he could play through nearly the whole of an opera after hearing it once performed. This refined taste was not confined to one set of objects, it was conspicuous in his furniture, in a very fine and valuable library, and in the purchase of some exquisite gems of painting, and objects of virtu. My daughter's tastes were equally refined, and habits similar, and she told me that 1854.] DAUGHTER ELLA'S MARRIAGE. 109 she felt as if she were living in the "Happy Valley" of Rasselas. The marriage was blessed with three charming sons, and it promised every felicity. But time had changes in store, and it will appear in the sequel how soon death intervened and cut off the head of the family in his prime. 110 CHAPTER XV. FROM THE DEPARTURE OF MY SONS TO THE CRIMEA IN NOVEMBER 1854, TO THEIR DEPARTURE FOR INDIA. NOVEMBER 1854-JULY 1857. But HITHERTO these memoirs have been confined to the life of a laborious civilian, whose time was divided between the duties of an arduous and responsible official situation and the studies and composition necessary for extensive literary undertakings. the time was now approaching when it was to assume a new character, and when the profession of my sons was to involve Lady Alison and myself in the whirl and the anxieties of WAR. In the summer of 1854 the Crimean war broke out; on the 20th September the battle of the Alma was fought; and it soon became evident that the whole disposable forces of the empire would be required to maintain the struggle on the banks of the Euxine. Both my sons were at this time in the 72d Highlanders, then stationed in Ireland; and the eldest, for whom I had just purchased a company, was at Possil on leave of absence, 1854-1857.] CRIMEAN WAR. 111 when the dreaded (by us) summons to join, with a view to embarkation for the East, arrived. He and I were walking in the flower-garden, according to old custom, on a Sunday, the 8th of November, previous to a circuit of about a mile and a half round the grounds, which we usually made on that day, when the dinner-bell in the house was rung violently, and soon after the footman came running out to say a telegraphic message had arrived, and we were wanted. We at once knew what it was, pressed our hands in silence, and after sending word by the servant we would be in directly, continued our wonted walk, conversing as usual, but each in silence feeling we would perhaps never take that walk together again. No one can have lived through this eventful period without the conviction that the feelings of the great majority of the nation were more thoroughly embarked in this war than in any contest before or since, if the few last years of the struggle with Napoleon are excepted. Even the dreadful horrors and heroic deeds during the Sepoy revolt in 1857 excited no such unanimous and enthusiastic feelings, especially among the working classes of society. This is a remarkable circumstance, when the unbounded enthusiasm for Russia during the campaign of 1812, 1813, and 1814 is taken into consideration, and the vital character of the national interests then at stake, and brought into hazard during the Sepoy war, is recollected. Still more strange is it that the |